This invention is an improvement in the field of launching and retrieval of vertical take-off and landing aircraft, known as VTOL.
Conventionally the VTOL is equipped with landing gear consisting of a number of legs which are adequate to support it on landing pads during take-offs and landings. On the ground the VTOL may be moved from the landing pad to a hangar and back to the landing pad using equipment operated by ground crew. Such system normally works satisfactorily in operation on solid ground and where the speed of the operation is not important and the ground crew is available.
However, where the VTOL must operate from a very limited size landing pad, such as for instance on a tower, a small ship or some moving ground vehicle, there is a need for automation of the launching and retrieval operations in which case the conventional system would have to be replaced by a more adaptable one.
In the past several devices were proposed for the operation from moving vehicles such as ships and some, such as Canadian "Bear Trap", French "Harpoon" etc are now in use on military ships, however, they all require complicated procedures for landing and for moving the VTOL to the hangar.